GreenPal is an online freelancing platform that connects landscapers to clients in the

United States The United States of America (USA), also known as the United States (U.S.) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It is a federal republic of 50 U.S. state, states and a federal capital district, Washington, D.C. The 48 ...

. The company is based in

Nashville, Tennessee Nashville, often known as Music City, is the capital and List of municipalities in Tennessee, most populous city in the U.S. state of Tennessee. It is the county seat, seat of Davidson County, Tennessee, Davidson County in Middle Tennessee, locat ...

and was founded in 2012. GreenPal's business model was inspired by

Uber Uber Technologies, Inc. is an American multinational transportation company that provides Ridesharing company, ride-hailing services, courier services, food delivery, and freight transport. It is headquartered in San Francisco, California, a ...

Airbnb Airbnb, Inc. ( , an abbreviation of its original name, "Air Bed and Breakfast") is an American company operating an online marketplace for short-and-long-term homestays, experiences and services in various countries and regions. It acts as a ...

, and

Lyft Lyft, Inc. is an American company offering ride-hailing services, motorized scooters, and bicycle-sharing systems in the United States and Canada. Lyft sets fares, which vary using a dynamic pricing model based on local supply and demand a ...

. As of January 2020, the company operated in 45states and had approximately 1million users.

History

GreenPal was founded in April 2012 by Bryan M. Clayton, Gene Caballero, Zach Hendrix, and Ross Brooks. Clayton, Caballero, and Hendrix had previously worked together in the

landscaping Landscaping refers to any activity that modifies the visible features of an area of land, including the following: # Living elements, such as flora or fauna; or what is commonly called gardening, the art and craft of growing plants with a goal ...

industry, and they noticed that the demand for same-day lawncare was growing. Clayton cited

and

as his inspirations for the company. In order to encourage brand loyalty, GreenPal began offering complimentary treats and customized notes for homeowners with pets. In 2016, three of the

founders Founder or Founders may refer to: Places *Founders Park, a stadium in South Carolina, formerly known as Carolina Stadium * Founders Park, a waterside park in Islamorada, Florida Arts, entertainment, and media * Founders (''Star Trek''), the ali ...

needed to obtain a $250,000 loan and personally guarantee it to buy out a fourth founder who was going through a divorce. Using the company's earnings, they settled the loan in about 18 months. From 2016 to 2017, GreenPal expanded its operations, and launched in several new cities such as

Atlanta Atlanta ( ) is the List of capitals in the United States, capital and List of municipalities in Georgia (U.S. state), most populous city in the U.S. state of Georgia (U.S. state), Georgia. It is the county seat, seat of Fulton County, Georg ...

Houston Houston ( ) is the List of cities in Texas by population, most populous city in the U.S. state of Texas and in the Southern United States. Located in Southeast Texas near Galveston Bay and the Gulf of Mexico, it is the county seat, seat of ...

, and Marietta. According to ''

Naples Daily News The ''Naples Daily News'' is the main daily newspaper of Naples, Florida, Naples, Florida, and Collier County, Florida, Collier County. It is owned by Gannett. It was previously owned by Milwaukee-based Journal Media Group, which was formed by a ...

'', the company generated nearly $5million in revenue in 2017. In 2019, GreenPal extended its operations to cities such as

Minneapolis–Saint Paul Minneapolis–Saint Paul is a metropolitan area in the Upper Midwest, Upper Midwestern United States centered around the confluence of the Mississippi River, Mississippi, Minnesota River, Minnesota, and St. Croix River (Wisconsin–Minnesota), ...

Detroit Detroit ( , ) is the List of municipalities in Michigan, most populous city in the U.S. state of Michigan. It is situated on the bank of the Detroit River across from Windsor, Ontario. It had a population of 639,111 at the 2020 United State ...

San Diego San Diego ( , ) is a city on the Pacific coast of Southern California, adjacent to the Mexico–United States border. With a population of over 1.4 million, it is the List of United States cities by population, eighth-most populous city in t ...

, and

Spokane, Washington Spokane ( ) is the most populous city in eastern Washington and the county seat of Spokane County, Washington, United States. It lies along the Spokane River, adjacent to the Selkirk Mountains, and west of the Rocky Mountain foothills, south o ...

. In January 2020, the app was used by a reported 150,000 vendors and 1million homeowners. That same month, the company expanded its snow removal service to

Greater Boston Greater Boston is the metropolitan region of New England encompassing the municipality of Boston, the capital of the U.S. state of Massachusetts and the most populous city in New England, and its surrounding areas, home to 4,941,632. The most s ...

. GreenPal has been cited as an example of economic "vaporization", wherein physical products can be replaced by information technologies. The introduction of apps like GreenPal has reduced the need for homeowners to purchase landscaping equipment, much as

diminished the need for individuals to own cars.

Features

GreenPal's app functions as a matchmaking service to connect professional landscapers with local homeowners. Users download the app and list their address, the types of landscaping work they would like and the date that they would like the work completed. Nearby

landscapers Landscaping refers to any activity that modifies the visible features of an area of land, including the following: # Living elements, such as flora or fauna; or what is commonly called gardening, the art and craft of growing plants with a goal o ...

, known as "vendors" on the platform, are then able to bid on the job, based on the customers' description and

Google Earth Google Earth is a web mapping, web and computer program created by Google that renders a 3D computer graphics, 3D representation of Earth based primarily on satellite imagery. The program maps the Earth by superimposition, superimposing satelli ...

images of their yards. GreenPal screens vendors to ensure that they have commercial landscaping equipment and references, and requires them to register with a valid

social security number In the United States, a Social Security number (SSN) is a nine-digit number issued to United States nationality law, U.S. citizens, Permanent residence (United States), permanent residents, and temporary (working) residents under section 205(c)(2 ...

and bank account. Vendors are then rated based on user reviews. In addition to work such as lawnmowing and gardening, GreenPal's vendors also offer seasonal services such as

snow removal Snow removal or snow clearing is the job of removing snow after a snowfall to make travel easier and safer. This is done both by individual households and by governments institutions, and commercial businesses. De-icing and anti-icing De-icin ...

Development

The company initially paid $90,000 to develop an app and website for the service. However, this app turned out to be unusable, and had been designed for use on traditional computers rather than mobile devices. Hendrix, the CTO, began studying

software design Software design is the process of conceptualizing how a software system will work before it is implemented or modified. Software design also refers to the direct result of the design process the concepts of how the software will work which co ...

and developed a new app for the company.

References

External links

* {{Official website, https://www.yourgreenpal.com/ Location-based software Freelance marketplace websites Online marketplaces of the United States

History

Features

Development

See also

References

External links